WHAT A DRAG

Ron Kotulak and Jon VanCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Although the number of smoking-cessation clinics has increased dramatically, their success rates are still dismal. Trying to find out which methods work best, University of Minnesota researchers studied 1,041 smokers to find out how many were still smoke-free after taking one of three cessation programs. They found that of participants in programs provided in certain private clinics, 23 percent were still not smoking after 12 months. Twenty percent of those taking the American Lung Association`s Freedom from Smoking program were smoke-free after a year, as were 14 percent of those taking the American Cancer Society`s FreshStart program, the researchers reported in the American Journal of Public Health. Clinics should place more emphasis on setting a target date for quitting smoking and instituting ongoing programs, said Dr. Harry A. Lando of the research team. ''Given that most quit attempts end in failure, the importance of eliciting multiple attempts over extended periods of time becomes obvious,'' he said.

PROSTATE DRUG Treating benign prostatic hypertrophy, a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland, with a drug instead of surgery may become possible, according to preliminary findings by Milwaukee researchers. Benign prostatic hypertrophy affects an estimated 14 million American males. Of 28 patients given a drug called terazosin, 17 showed marked improvement, eight showed slight improvement, and three did not benefit, said Dr. Herbert Lepor of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

The drug, which Abbott Laboratories markets as an anti-hypertensive medication, appears to block a chemical messenger that triggers prostatic tissue to enlarge with age, he reported in the Journal of Clinical

Pharmacology, Therapy and Toxicology.

HEMORRHOID HELP Rubber bands, commonly used as a simple and effective means of removing internal hemorrhoids, may soon get stiff competition from infrared

coagulation.

The infrared technique, which seals and burns off the abnormal blood vessels in the rectum that cause hemorrhoids, is just as effective as rubber bands but less painful, said Dr. Philip F. Caushaj of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. Rubber bands are slipped over swollen blood vessels to choke off their blood supply.

The tissue dies and sloughs off in a few days. In a study involving 87 patients, 21 percent of those treated with rubber bands had minor

complications, compared with only 10 percent of those treated with infrared coagulation, Caushaj reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. ''Patients receiving infrared coagulation reported very minimal pain,'' he said.